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I was brought into the digital world kicking, screaming wetting my pants. The concept of digital was unacceptable. I now have over 40 terabytes of 0’s and 1’s. It’s frightening. My IT specialist, my studio manager, and my partner all insist that I take this blog down. We’re going to do it!…against my will. It’s like an iPhone; I can’t stand it, but I have to have it. So I am going to leave you temporarily with the new link and I am going to share one or two photos with you. While looking for a photo for my memoirs I stumbled across this farm in South Africa. Beautiful light, beautiful color and it’s not 5 degrees out. To all the ships at sea, please stay warm I wish you all happy lives. Follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

In a world that’s moving faster than the speed of light Weir McBride was a true Renaissance Man. He had a unique ability to take the most ego inspired personalities and get the most out of them. He had a great sense of humor and the ability to be a great friend on many different levels. Weir was a man who could motivate me to do things I normally would not do photographically.
On one hand we had nothing in common and on the other hand we had a lot in common. We both were in Chicago in 1968 and we both photographed Mohammed Ali. He transcended just being a great photographer – he was a great communicator as well. All in all, Weir was an extremely honest, sincere and dynamic person. If he disagreed with you, he took the gloves off and told you to your face, not behind your back. When Weir spoke I listened and I will miss those conversations. To be honest I’m in shock right now, not something any of us had expected.

On a recent trip to Cuba I was using my Singh Ray Gold-N-Blue Filter and I was thinking about Weir as I made the shot. I will think about you Weir up in heaven and if I get a small tug on my ponytail, I’ll know it’s you. A lot of people really loved you Weir, as well as had great respect for you. I’m one of those people and my partner JoAnne Kalish is one as well. We’ll all miss you Rest in Peace – you made a difference.

To all the ships at sea, approximately two months ago I did a program at B&H Photography called all things in photography are a compromise. The one thing I would like to make perfectly clear; that is not an excuse for me not to do my best. For that matter, it should not be an excuse for anyone to not do their best. Sometimes your best isn’t really up to code. Attached to this blog is a link to a short film on the great, beautiful, Pete Seeger. It was a work in progress and it was never designed to be published in its present format, but given the fact that Pete has moved to the next level of consciousness, please forgive my one-handed blind shooting. No, I did not intentionally cut his head off but the real sin is the microphone was not tweaked as it should have been. Translated: I had no assistant, no sound man, no PA, and no tripod. However, none of those things are an excuse. https://vimeo.com/85390064

What I’m about to say is my opinion, not fact. Pete Seeger will not rest in peace. He’ll be going to the pearly gates and will be carrying his banjo and singing and will never stop. As a matter of fact, he may try to reorganize part of Heaven. Personally, I’ve never met anyone who ever had a bad word to say about Pete. The reason for this is he was truly a gift to the world. A true visionary before it was popular to be one. There are very few men who would have the audacity, and nerve to march into Washington and stand up to the bureaucracy. I for one am not sure I’d be able to do it.
I have always been in love with Pete and what he stood for. I did a short film with Pete and like all films I do, there was no script, outline or storyboard. I took the advice of Albert Maysles and I was a fly on the wall. As I was filming this 90 year old man picked up a sledge hammer and it whistled past my ear. I got on two knees and tried to frame him winging that hammer. Now it may have only been 6-14 inches from me but I thought to myself Pete please don’t make a mistake and I certainly was not worried about my camera. Like everything Pete did, he was just right on. He went back to his microphone and didn’t miss a beat finishing up his song. What I thought also thought interesting, was that he showed up with his entourage – him and his truck and left the same way. There are no proper words in webster’s unabashed dictionary to describe Pete Seeger. God made just one and there will never be another that will take his place. With all due respect to Dylan, Springsteen, Sinatra, Presley, and John Lennon, they all might eventually be replaced but that will never happen with Pete. I consider myself an extremely lucky man to have spent time with such a true American Hero. I will make an honest attempt to put together another very short film on Pete.
So Pete keep playing your songs and when you need to break a sweat chop some more wood. Subconsciously I think that’s why I love to chop wood myself.

To all The Ships at Sea

We are all motivated by a myriad of passions – likes, dislikes, and history. The list is infinite. When I made a decision to call my Editor and tell him I wanted to photograph the inaugural U.S. Grand Prix in Austin Texas he thought I was out of my mind. From a business standpoint his concerns were valid. So exactly why did I find it necessary to invest a week of my life into that specific race? A few reasons were I never photographed Vettel, Hamilton, or Alonso and last but not least, Michael Schumacher and I knew this would be one of his last races. When he decided to return to Formula One I called a friend, Lewis Franck a great race car writer in the U.S. and we both agreed this was not a good idea for Michael to make a comeback. We were both genuinely concerned about his well-being after his retirement from Formula One, as it’s very hard to make a come back. Both Lewis and I were extremely happy that Michael’s second retirement from Formula One left him healthy and happy. Anyone who lived on the ragged edge of F1 and the inherent dangers of open-wheel racing at upwards of 200 mph for him to leave the sport healthy and happy with seven world championships – it just doesn’t get better than that. The minute I heard the word of Michael’s skiing accident my heart stopped and I immediately called Lewis. Race Car fans, let us say a prayer for Michael that he comes out of this okay.

On a lighter moment… at pit stop practice, Michael’s F1 tub very gingerly touched my shooting vest at 55mph it did get my attention (we were both on the proper side of each other’s line.)

Every once in a while the Moon and the stars align and life is good. Over the last twelve years I’ve been using WD exclusively for my studio, gallery, learning center, office (you get the idea). ABSOLUTELY! You are cordially invited to join me on December 11th at the B & H event space and a good time shall be had by all. To all the ships at sea, see you there.

Photographers are creating more and more images and managing your archive so that all the images you create are secure and easily located is essential to the professional photographer. This task is of paramount importance and there are tools that can be of great benefit to the photographer/videographer but on the other hand, many creative’s can find this part of workflow daunting and potentially disastrous. In this seminar we will concentrate on the benefits and show you how to avoid the disasters while providing inspiration from Joe DiMaggio’s work.Joe DiMaggio, a lifelong photographer with an illustrious career shooting; sports, environmental portraits, stock, video content, photo illustrations as well as fine art depends on his vast archive to survive and thrive. This seminar sponsored by WD, a leader in digital storage and hard drives, will highlight Joe’s work and show you in a honest and straightforward way how to manage a state of the art workflow. While professionals will walk away with sound advice and archiving tips, this presentation will also be of benefit to amateur photographers who are concerned with saving the precious moments of their family history.

WD will have a product expert on hand to show off new features on their current drives as well as field the most difficult of questions.

Joe DiMaggioJoe DiMaggio is an internationally known photographer who’s been making award winning photographs for four decades. His dynamic photographs have appeared in Time/Life, Sports Illustrated, Time Magazine, HBO and the list goes on. One of his Sports Illustrated covers was selected by Time Magazine as Picture of the Year. DiMaggio made the obvious transition to advertising work for fortune 500 companies and was extremely sucessful doing photo illustrations for companies such as AT&T, AOL, Barclays, Xerox, Computer Associates, HBO, RJR Nabisco, Sony, Verizon, and Ford Motor Company. DiMaggio has contributed as an international pool photographer, to several Olympic Games. During his illustrious career DiMaggio’s done radio talk shows, television shows, magazine articles, and lectured at some of the most prestigious colleges and universities throughout the world.

DiMaggio has been part of the American Photo Popular Photography Mentor Series. He’s hosted several ABC’s World of Photography television shows and hosted numerous Canon Photo Safaris. He’s hosted Internet TV’s Visual Impressions television show and completed numerous episodes showcasing his skill as a world renowned photographer

Recently, Sports Illustrated selected one of DiMaggio’s photos as one of the third greatest photos in the last 100 years of the Indianapolis 500.

The other day I was privileged to have lunch with a very dear friend of mine. Don Sergeant, an extremely bright, creative and dynamic Vietnam war veteran, whose main responsibility in this world is to save lives; a beautiful man. When we finished lunch, I stopped by The Forge Gallery and said hello to another dear friend, Phil Rachelson. Phil is not only a great artist, he also has the ability of generating great designs in his gallery. He displays the artwork in a way; it’s pleasant to the eye and geometrically sound. It’s a special Christmas show, to all the ships at sea, if you have an opportunity stop by and support the artists and the gallery. Great art at great prices. -Joe D.

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"In a world that seems to be moving at light speed, the new technologies should be embraced. We as visual communicators should always remember the photograph comes first. The content is more important than the pixels or the manipulation after the fact.
My love affair for this medium has only grown ten-fold. With the advent of digital it’s like starting all over again. Our future generations will look back at this time the way we looked back to the Lumiere brothers. What a great time to be involved in photography and filmmaking."
~Joe DiMaggio

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